NEW YORK- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned that artificial intelligence could be used to cause a catastrophe resulting in as many as one billion deaths, adding his voice to growing calls for tougher oversight of rapidly advancing AI systems.
“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths,” Gates said in an excerpt from an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press.
The full interview is scheduled to air on Sunday.
Gates did not predict that AI would kill one billion people on its own.
Instead, he warned about the destructive potential of advanced systems in the hands of people intent on causing widespread harm.
He said the combination of malicious actors and the latest AI tools could become more dangerous than any individual weapon developed previously.
The billionaire philanthropist called for governments to become directly involved in monitoring AI development, arguing that voluntary controls adopted by technology companies would not provide sufficient protection.
“No one thinks self-regulation is enough,” Gates said in a separate excerpt from the NBC interview.
He said lawmakers, law-enforcement agencies and technology companies must work together to determine the safeguards and monitoring systems required.
Gates acknowledged that regulation would create additional obligations for developers but argued that it need not bring AI innovation to a halt.
The warning comes as researchers and senior technology executives intensify debate over what they describe as the existential risks of highly advanced AI.
Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic researcher, recently left the company after accusing leading AI laboratories of “gambling with our lives” as they compete to build increasingly powerful systems.
Some researchers have suggested that future models could evade controls, conduct cyberattacks or behave in ways their developers cannot predict.
There is no scientific consensus on the likelihood or timing of an AI-driven catastrophe.
Critics of the warnings argue that extinction scenarios remain speculative and could divert attention from harms already associated with the technology, including misinformation, discrimination, job displacement, surveillance and fraud.
Supporters of stronger safeguards contend that even a low probability of catastrophic harm deserves urgent action because of the enormous potential consequences.
Gates has identified AI-assisted biological attacks and cybercrime as particularly serious dangers.
Advanced systems could potentially help hostile actors develop pathogens or attack hospitals, financial networks, government services and critical infrastructure.
He has also warned that governments are poorly prepared for the economic disruption AI could cause.
In a recent interview, Gates pointed to risks including widespread job losses, cyberattacks and people becoming overly dependent on AI companions.
Despite those concerns, Gates remains an advocate of using AI to improve healthcare, education and agriculture, particularly in developing countries.
His foundation has committed $1 billion over two years to expand the use of AI in those sectors and improve access for communities whose languages and needs are underrepresented in existing systems.
The philanthropist maintains that AI could either reduce inequality or deepen it, depending on how governments, companies and international institutions manage its development.
